Summary of Three Sources

1. Atheism.  CM Lorkowski.  27 March 2013.
1. Atheism has changed throughout the years: what was considered atheism a few centuries ago is completely different to what it is viewed as today.  Unorthodox religious views in the nineteenth century were considered as a form of atheism.  Atheism in the popular sense claims that there aren't any supported reasons for believing the existence of God, but there also exists supported reasons for believing no such deity exists.  In this academic piece, Lorkowski acknowledges both the naturalistic and theistic sides in order to defend the role of atheism.
2. We Can’t Have Ethics Without Religion.  Don Feder.
1. This newspaper article begins by giving statistics of unethical values, such as the increased percentage of premarital sex.  The article goes on by disapproving the moral teachings of professors and psychologists and blaming them for the increasing lack of “Judeo-Christian values that serve as the foundation of a decent society.”  The article ends by bluntly stating that religion is the only way to enforce the ethical norms: honesty, kindness, and equity.
3. Hope: faith, atheism, and agnosticism.  Jonathan C. Smith.  January-February 2011.
1. Smith points out the different types of faith and the multiple versions that come with each one.  For example, he states that people embrace or reject claims depending on evidence, unfalsifiability, and emotion.  These three different bases make up faith of the first, second, and third kind.  He then goes on to question the survival of faith and the existence of atheism and spirituality.  For faith to survive, one must take a narcissistic route by accepting one’s own faith and questioning others.  Last but not least, it is possible for atheism and spirituality to coexist.  Smith’s message is that whatever it is you believe in, one’s journey to find mystical realities and possibilities is what matters the most to the soul.